Justification:
Although there are localised threats to this species, it has a wide distribution, with no known major widespread threats. It is therefore listed as Least Concern. It has also been assessed regionally as Least Concern for central and southern Africa. Regionally for east Africa it is restricted to the Lower Shire, Malawi. It undertakes a mass migration upstream during the rainy season, moving out of the river and spawning on the floodplain, and is vulnerable to overfishing at this stage (Bruton et al., 1982). For this reason it has been regionally assessed as Vulnerable.

Labeo altivelis is a benthopelagic and potamodromous species. It prefers large rivers but is also found in large lakes and dams. It grazes on algae and `aufwuchs' from rocks (Skelton 1993). It migrates upstream into tributaries to breed during the rainy season. From October to December in Lake Moëro, the adults gather and migrate to the spawning grounds. They go up the Luapula River up to the foot of Johnston Falls where they undergo one massive spawning between January and March. This massive spawning of short duration is known as kapata in the Luapula-Mweru system and in the tributaries of the Luapula. This species is intensely fished and caviar is produced from eggs collected during migration from Lake Mweru to Luapula River (Tshibwabwa 1997). This species is of some economic importance especially during the low water conditions of the dry season.

Management of rural fisheries is needed in certain areas. Since 2007 it has been prohibited to fish in Lake Mweru and the Luapula River on the Congolese site of the border. In Zambia, there is the Kasanka National Park around Lake Bangweulu. The fines didn’t work in this region. Even scientific collections were stopped. The government has burned 10,000 nets after measuring the nets. The governor (Morris Katunge) has paid the fishermen. Since 1st of May 2008, fishing was allowed again, but with controlled mesh sizes. The most southern part of the species distribution in the Congo River basin is situated in the National Park of Upemba.